The Final Song
by Cydel
Summary: Follow Thalia, a Sith Ambassador as she fights for power in the Imperial Army. Her new master sends her off Korriban to Dromund Kaas on her first mission, but how will she handle an encounter with one of the most infamous pirates of their age? Possible encounter with story line characters. M for Graphic leg injury and possible later chapter smutty goodness. ;3
1. Leg? 1

She knelt in the training room, solitary and feeling as if she would soon die of boredom. She had done this for the past five years since she had first met her new master in the torture chambers of the Sith Academe on Korriban. That day she had been waiting for Overseer Rantic to interrogate the republic SIS agent she had found while completing her final trial.

"Thalia! Why don't you have those tablets I sent you for and where are the other acolytes"?, the overseer demanded.  
"S-ss-Sir, I came back with the republic spy that Lord Tytho had asked me to bring in, she told me she had already contacted you... and the other acolytes were destroyed... accidentally".  
At this Rantic growled deeply as he advanced on the short, dark haired, human girl."I've never even heard of this Sith. So not only have you failed to complete your final trial but you insult me by lying to my face".  
She slowly shrank away from him as he strode forward, fumbling with her practice vibroblade.  
"b-bu-but I did wait you told me to do, I've killed countless insurgents and recovered more artifacts than half of imperial intelligence"!

"You've been told the rules, you've failed and now" The lightsaber in his hand buzzes to life as a crackling red blade shoot out of the end."you die"! That's when she passed out.

She woke up in a cold, dark room... no, if I'm going to be telling my story I'm gonna do it as me. Taking in third person is strange. I woke up in a cold dark room. I'm not sure how long I had been there but as soon as I stood up light burst into the room from what seemed to be from everywhere.  
"Finally, your awake". That soft feminine voice was all to familiar, it was the same one that had guided me through my trials and told me to find the spy in the slave quarters. Shielding my eyes from the light, I could barely make out her outline. "Thalia... close call that time, try to complete your first task before you start on the next, I hardly had time to enjoy killing that overseer."  
"B-bb-but my lord, y-you told me it could wait".  
"Oh, yes, I did say that didn't I? Well i said it could, not that it should. Listen closely dear, else you'll never make it".  
By this time my eyes had adjusted and I could see the scarlet eyes of the sith lord who had taken it as her personal challenge to make me a powerful, well informed and miserable acolyte. She used the force to pick me up by the back of my robes, like a mother cathhound to its pup.  
"Now that you've 'graduated' from the academe, I've decided to make you my apprentice".  
As I heard this I fell back to my knees ' oh gods, shes gonna work me to death'. "Now, now none of that...". Suddenly I'm flying through the air towards a stone wall.  
I came to my scenes soon enough to bound off the wall and reach for my vibroblade... which was gone.  
"looking for this?" I turned towards my new master and wo and behold, there was her blade.  
"hmm, no this won't do at all". She grabbed it by the blade and shattered it over her knee.  
"W-what am I s-s-suppose to use now? I needed that"!  
"Ah, there's your problem always to focused on needs and what must be done and when you have to do it... you'll never get to be a sith lord like that. By the way, that stutter, it's cute but its gotta go if I'm not going to be killing you".

That was my first day as the apprentice of Lord Tytho. Since then, I've been waiting in that same room, swinging around the remains of my vibroblade... I named it Seplic, after an older initiate that I had had a crush on. Before you assume anything, no, I ended up having to kill him and feed him to a pack of starved jawas. Don't ask. I've trained, meditated, slept, briefly sang, till a voice on the speaker said I sounded nice, which promptly put an end to that ever happening again and spared by my self. There was little to do and less way to tell time.

When the door finally opened a tinny cathar boy. He ran up to me and I looked down to him."hello mama, I'm Davir, Lord Tytho asked me to bring you to her. If you could follow me I'll..." and that's when i grabbed his neck and lifted him off the ground. The poor boy was so light I didn't need to use the force  
"tell me the directions to where she is... please" I cocked my head sideways before the last word. Under my vice-like grip, he could barely manage to tell me to take two rights then a left at the first door." Thank you very much" he dropped like a bag of sand when I let him go, coughing heavily. He got up quickly and ran to show me the way, but as he passed me, I jammed the broken end of Seplic into his chest. His eyes glossed over before he hit the ground. I was in no mood for company.

Her door was locked when I got there, of course she locked it, why wouldn't she lock the door after sending for me? The speaker on key pad besides the door made a static sound as Tytho's voice cleared out.  
"Hello dear, how was your alone time and where is Davir? I told him not to let you kill him, but that's besides the point. If you'll drop the vibro-shank, I'll let you in".

A moment later and I was in her chambers. The room was mid-sized, with selves covered in blasters, rifles and more than a dozen lightsabers. She sat at her desk at the opposite end of the room, clad in her usual purple robes with the gaudy pink scarf around her neck. She gestured towards the chair facing her."Come, sit down, we have so much to talk about".  
So we sat and I... endured her attempt at small talk.  
"How was your room"? 'My prison cell was horrible' I thought, what I said was closer to "I-it was lovely master, b-bb-but could we not..."  
"I know it's a bit bare now, but I'm still working on refurnishing the place after I cleared out the garbage from its last occupant".  
"Th-thank you ma-am, but...",  
" I've been trying to decide what color to paint the room, what do you think of pink"?  
'I think if you paint my room pink and leave me in it for that long again, I'll go insane'. "Um... well I'm not..."  
"you'll love it, trust me, good thing too their may be a lot of time between jobs".  
'Oh gods no'!

By this time I gave up being part of the conversation and let my mind wonder, inspection the strange decor around the room.

"Are you paying attention"?  
'oh shit' "yes master" my eyes snapped back to her.  
"you're obviously not a fan of interior decoration, so lets skip to the business"  
'finally'!

"Your first assignment is on Dromund Kaas, I need you to bring me the head of the mandalorian bounty hunter that killed my last apprentice, I'll brief you on his location when you arrive at the space port".  
"master"?  
" yes my apprentice"?  
"I'm going to need a new weapon".  
She smiled broadly at this and walked over to a shelf.  
"Are you familiar with the use of a blaster"?  
"Y-yes ma-am, b-but...",  
" a lightsaber of course, but I find that in a pinch its nice to have something less expected". She lifted a heavy blaster pistol of of the shelf.  
"I'm thinking an Arkanian custom blaster would suit you best, I've tinkered with it a bit, improved energy cell, beam splitter, oh and watch the trigger, its a bit touchy".  
"Thank you ma-am, but...".  
"Yes, yes I haven't forgotten, your lightsaber". She walked over to a display case and selected an odd piece. The lightsaber was rather ornate; Dura-steel straight grip, with an complex wire cup guard over the handle made of a material that I didn't recognize.  
"This is Laatste lied. I think you'll like its current augmentations, but you can change it as you see fit".  
She handed me the decorative hilt and I activated it, after a short amount of fumbling. The thin, violet blade shot out, pulsating with a radiant heat, but there was something else, a draining feeling. Lord Tytho turned her back to me,  
"Like most lightsabers, it has three crystals, yours uses a compressed synth-crystal for its color and composition as well as a Barab ingot to amplify its heat. What makes it special however is what caused its last user to fall. It was constructed with an Afvoer as a power crystal. Usually these are used for their color, but when they're connected as the power source they don't just feed off the force around you, they feed off you, and your opponents. As long as the blade is activated, it will weaken you".  
I quickly closed the blade, I could already feel fatigue from the little I'd used it. "I'm hoping the use of will lessen your reliance on lightsaber combat, though should it come to that, you don't need to worry about your hand, the guard is made of songsteel, its expensive, but lightsabers won't damage it".  
Ma-am, m-maybe a less...",  
"No, I'm sure it won't steal all of your strength before you finish your opponent, have some faith in your self dear. Besides the effects aren't permanent, you'll recover quick, now get to the shuttle, their going to be leaving soon and I want you on the next one out. We'll work on your outfit when you get back".  
"Um.. I don't know how to leave, and whats wrong with my...".  
"Oh, yes that, roam around, you'll find it. Its the big lift".

After hours of roaming, I found the lift, one of what seemed to be hundreds by the way. The harsh desert sun stung my eyes as I stepped out of the tomb that my master had concealed her stronghold in. As my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I didn't see the speeder in time. The next thing I could remember, the red sky was spinning around a blue figure, a head with two lekku. As my eyes came into focus, I could see a pair of violet eyes. Beneath them were blue lips, which were moving as if to shout, but I could barely hear a whisper. Then that came into focus too.  
"Miss, can ya' hear me"?  
I nodded sluggishly as I tried to sit up and assess my situation. 'I must have hit my head, but my leg felt... odd'.So I looked down. The bone was out... far out. For reasons I still don't understand, that was just the funniest thing, making me laugh lightly before I fainted.

In ways of places to wake up after something as freaky as that go, this place was pretty bad. It looked like a ships med-bay. I figured this out by looking at the med-bay sign above the only door. The room was mostly clean, with a Kolto tank across the room from the bed I was in. Not in, shackled to, I shook the manacles to confirm the feeling. I looked down to see that's not the only thing that changed about my arms. There was also a kolto drip connecting to the vein inside my right elbow.  
'Enough putting it off, we need to look down again'  
.My left leg was in a splint made of scrap dura-steel and synth-cord. Just as I was about to reach for my lightsaber, the door opened and a blue twi'lek man walked in. I sat up as far as my restraints would allow and put on my best terrified act, which wasn't entirely an act.  
"Now, now. no need to be so scared miss, it's just that when ah' brought ya here these sorta fell out'a your robes".  
He pulled Laatste lied, and my blaster out of a rough canvas bag at his waste. I shifted myself so I was sitting my knees under my chin and back against the head board of the bed. The handcuffs prevented me from hugging my knees like I usually do when I'm stressed out. This sight clearly pained him, I could see the guilt written all over his face.  
"So ah' figure ya came here ta steal some old sith junk like us, right"?  
"I'm j-just looking for stuff to buy food. K-korriban is a hard place to live, I'm not looking for trouble, p-promise".  
'Damn it thals, why didn't you loose the imperial accent'?!  
"So... hearin' you talk now, sounds more like your an escaped slave...".  
'oh good an out'.  
I turned up the terrified look from a shaking to a cornered animal.  
"please! d-dd-don't take me back, th-they'll kill me... or worse"!  
"Now don' ya worry, ah'd never do somethin' like that, those nerve burners in the academy are crazier than a rabid tonkie".  
I relaxed back into the seat I was in before and again tried to hug my knees in, both to ease myself and to drive home the guilt to get him to unshackle me.  
"let's get those off of you, then I can show you around the ship... if your ready".  
"o-ok".

After he unlocked the handcuffs, he picked me up off the bed, "Let's not have ya put any weight on that just yet".

He carried me through the ship, introducing me to the crew. We met Joeci, a Zebrak woman, in the engine room. She was the mechanic. Farin, a massive dark skinned man, who's job tittle was simply put as 'the muscle' was found in the hall way leading to the mess hall and great room where I was introduced to Petra.  
"Well hi there little lady". Petra leaned in so our faces where only a hands width apart. Startled I shrank into my carrier's arm and hugged him to distance my self from her.  
It's not that she was particularly frightening, she must have been four foot ten inches at the most. The strangest thing about Petra were her eyes. They were all diferent colors, like kaleidoscopes. The colors kept moving and changing. Besides this, she was clearly human.  
"Oh, come on Petra, she spooks easy"!  
" ah come on captain, don't you tell me your not liking being so close to her"  
She wiggled her eyebrows with a pointed look at how tight I clung to him, so I flailed to get him to put me down.  
"Quit that, ya shouldn' have weight on that foot".  
As he wrestled to keep me up, his hand landed on my chest. Realizing what he has grabbing, his eyes went wide and his face went a deep shade of blue.

Three things happened in the next few seconds. First Petra fell down laughing, then I slapped him and he dropped me. Searing pain lanced through my leg and and I screamed. I'd planed to do most of that, save the accidental grop, but that high pitched scream, that was all to real. Petra stopped laughing immediately and suddenly I was surrounded by the crew members I'd met.  
"Oh poodoo! Ah'm so sorry"!  
I stayed there for a long moment trying to calm the pain.  
"Hey petra, go get the Kolto drip".  
'Hmm, maybe?... no I need to be lucid'.  
"N-no... j-just give me a m-minute".  
Petra whispered " Didn' know she could talk...".

After the pain went back down to a dull ache, I nodded and he picked me up and set me on a soft couch bolted to the wall of the main room.  
"So now that ya know all'a our names, how 'bout ya tell us yours"?  
'think Thals! tell them anything, anything but the truth'!

"M-my name is Thalia, but I still don't know your name". I looked at the tall twi'lek man that had hit me with his speeder.  
"Well course you do, Everybody knows it, though they don' know its mine". He turns and grins "I'm Captain Dasi'l the typhoon".

He was obviously very proud of his name, as his crew all cheered hearing it.  
'Time for some revenge'. "Never heard of you". I stated with the greatest sabacc face possible. Of course I knew him, he was infamous for his raid of the Grand Republic Station over Illum. His ship wreaked havoc for all of ten minutes and left without a trace, save the looted super station with a blue D marked on top and millions of credits worth of stolen goods dispersing.

At that remark he looked aghast at me.  
"Ya never heard ah' me? Guess the don' tell their slaves anythin' at all". Petra punched him in the arm.  
"Why didn' ya tell me she was a slave to those monsters"?  
"Sorry Petra, I'll give ya a heads up next time".  
Farin stepped forward and picked up petra before the tiny woman had a chance to attack Dasi'l and quickly jogged of. I could still hear Petra shouting something in twi'lek even after they were gone.  
"So... now that we'er all familiar and tha' such, where you headed now? I doubt you wanna stay on korriban".  
"I've got an aunt on Dromund Kaas that I had planned to stay with once I could stow away on one of the leaving shuttles".  
"Dromund Kaas? Are you crazy? An escaped slave that wants to go to tha imperial capital? You'd be better of just walkin' back into the academy". I flinched at this, not just to keep up appearances but because I genuinely feared going back. Dasi'l sat down on one side of me and put an arm around my shoulders.  
"How about ah' make you an offer? Stay on my ship fer a while, just till the sith can assume yer dead, then I'll take ya to Dromund Kaas if ya still wanna go. Deal"?

I looked up at him and I was about to say no, across the room Joeci interrupted  
"Are you serious Captain? She's afraid of her own shadow, we can't keep her on the ship, she's dead weight"!  
In that second my mind was made up. I'm gonna be a pirate for a while, just to spite her.  
I grabbed my heavy blaster and Laatste lied out of the bag at Dosi'l's hip, jamming the pistol into the holster under my armpit and the lightsaber into the clip at my waste.  
"I'm no light weight, I can hold my own against most sith acolytes"!  
'damn it Thals stop showing off'!  
Joeci grabbed the handle of the scatter gun at her back and I kept my hand on my blaster.  
" Hey! None ah that".  
He jumped in between us and held up his hands. I could see her hand tense as she was about to draw, when Petra charged in screaming,  
"Tal'kan chii" and tackled Dasi'l. Joeci let go of her scatter gun and bust up laughing. I relaxed,  
'not getting shot today, that's nice'.

A while latter, after Petra was done, Dasi'l continued the tour of the ship. The men's crew quarters were to the left of the women's, where I'd stay. While I was told that the two were identical, I wasn't allowed to go in the men's area.  
"It's not cause it's better than the other, its cause ah don' want to walk in on people... mixin' like that on the ship".  
We walked past the Captains Quarters with out any comment, he made a point of not looking at me for a bit after that. When we arrived at the cockpit, I looked from the hyper-drive control panel to the manual fighter controls.  
"What kind of ship is this"?  
"This here is a costume stock light Freighter class Anti-Orbital XS Shoi Tu, but I call her Betona".  
"alright were next"?  
"That would be telling Thalia". He set me down in a chair, strapped me in, then seated himself and hit the intercom button.  
"Ok everyone, strap down and hang on, we're goin' in'ta Hyperspace".

After a few hours, we came out of hiperspace with Umbara in the distance. I've heard rumors of the strange Shadow world, that the people were highly advanced. So much so that if they applied their technology to either side of the war effort, the winner would be decided. So far as I've heard both sides diplomatic and militaristic advances have been met with massive planet to orbit plasma bolts that sliced through defensive shields as if they weren't there.  
Flag ships from both sides were met like this. No warnings, no communication. Just more space debris. Through the front window we could see the decimated shells of ships and an corpses flouting bloated and gored. Petra entered the cockpit  
"Move over Daisy, this is my job".  
"at's Captin Daisy to you".  
Petra took her place at the pilots chair, "yeah... riiiight".

We dodged most of the space junk by inches and only got hit once, making Petra chuckle. The rest of the crew came into the cockpit,  
"Oi Petra! you tying to kill us"!  
Ferin's voice was booming and loud, but not angry, he had more of a 'joking but I'll throttle you' kind of tone.  
"ya know she likes to have 'er fun Ferin, besides, she loves herself to much to kill us all".  
"Your damn right I do".


	2. Sleepless nights? 2

Umbara lived up to its legend and then some. The surface of the planet was was so thick with fog that I couldn't see a more than a few yards ahead of me. The air was cold, then again everything is cold compared to where I was, tatooine exempt.

"You guys, get that stuff unloaded the buyer sound be here soon and I need to pick up supplies".  
Farin lifted the crate that Dasi'l had set me on and carried me of the ship. The captain stood talking to the port director, Joeci came down the ramp behind us, carrying a smaller crate. Dasi'l came back over with a grin on his face,  
"Looks like our buyer is runnin' a bit late so it's gonna be awhile, lets see if we can't get that leg of yours fixed up here, they've got tech here that you wouldn' believe".  
Joeci lifted me off of the big crate and jogged over to where Dasi'l was.  
"you got her Joeci"?  
"It's not like she's heavy sir". So In the most awkward way possible, with joeci holding me over her shoulders like a cape, we went off to go get supplies and medicine.

Dasi'l refused to ask for directions, insisting that he knew where we were going, though I swear that we passed the same shop four times. It's hard to tell time on the world of shadows, but we eventually got to the local clinic.

Joeci stood in front of a bench to let me drop down, which only hurt a lot, as Dasi'l walked up to the counter and asked the attendant if the doctor could see me soon.  
"He will be prepared in a moment, if you could fill out these papers and I'll ring you up".. Dasi'l placed a small bag on the counter,  
"how about we skip the papers and the ring up"?  
The man smiled, "ah, you spacers are my favorite kind of customer, I'll have her back there in a second, this might take some time, so if you have any other business you can take care of that while we attend to your associate".  
"Sounds good to me, Joeci, can you stay here with Thalia"? Joeci dropped onto the bench heavily beside me and started grumbling.  
"ah'll take that as a yes then, see you ladies later" and with that Dasi'l was gone.

A tall Umbaran man opened the door on the other side of the room,  
"Hello, I am Dr. Mieno Fal. If you could come to the back room I will inspect the damage". I looked to Joeci, who said something about pale skinned harpies before crouching down in front of me so I could get on her shoulders.

The doctor took one look at the splint and sighed,  
"This will take a long time".  
He knelt down and gently pulled the synth cord off, making the two pieces of dura-steel fall with a loud clatter then removed a large wadded gauze wrap.  
"Ok, I can see when the bone exited, the skin over that area will be scarred but that is to be expected, tell me if this hurts".  
ran his thumb and pointer finger in a V shape up the bone in my calf, long before he reached the point where the skin was torn I gasped,  
"Ok, the nerves in this area are still alive, this is good".  
He did the same going down from my knee.  
"Lets get this reset then, I'd like to put you under for this, as I will need to re break the bone to align it correctly". At the thought of that I shuddered.  
"will this be ok ma-am".  
I looked down and nodded.  
"Just lay back for and relax".  
He placed a mask over my nose and mouth.  
"take a few deep breaths for me and do not worry, it is just like sleep".  
'Alright Thalia, you heard what the nice doctor said, deep breaths, in annnnd out...'

I woke up to a pinching feeling on my leg,  
"just in time, I have your reset, can you stand up"?  
Groggily, Shifted to a sitting position on the bed.  
'I shouldn't have done that'.  
A wall of nausea hit me like a charging rancor. Seeing the color quickly drain out of my face, the doctor grabbed a waste bin, held in under my chin and swept back my hair. I hadn't eaten much since I left my masters stronghold, so stomach acid spewed out of my mouth as I fought back the next wave of vomit.  
"I am very sorry, sometimes off worlders react poorly to the anesthesia, I'll go get you a drink"  
I coughed to clear my burning throat. He came back in with a small metallic cup.  
"This should help you with settle your stomach".  
I took the cup gratefully and looked down into it. Its content was bubbly and crystal clear blue. I sipped it to see what it was like and found that it tasted like camby berries (like something between a strawberry and a blueberry).  
The doctor smiled,  
"It is always a favorite among my clients, just do not drink it to fast. Your friend is waiting out in the lobby".  
I finished my drink and left the backroom after thanking the doctor. Joeci was nowhere to be seen but Dasi'l was sitting on the bench.  
"Look at you, walkin' an everything! The job went well and the new supplies are all loaded up. Let's head on back then".

We walked down the street slowly looking at the shops and talking about what we saw. I was looking at a pair of black shin high boots when I heard the blaster report.

A huge crowd of Umbarans were outside the shop we were in, shouting and jeering. The shop owner walked out to greet them.  
"What is the meaning of this"!  
One man stepped forward, blaster drawn and steaming. There is a sith here and we believe she is in your shop".  
"Oh poodoo" 'wait, was that out loud'?!  
Dasi'l looked at me, the betrayal in his eye was worse than the broken leg.  
"are you..."?  
"Yes, kind of, I just d-didn't want to scare you". I couldn't even look him in the eye.  
"Hey, I'm not gonna freak out that easy, now lets get you outta here".  
"No, I'm going to face this properly, I want you to know what I can do". There was only a hint of fear in his face, but more than that he looked curious.  
'Lets hope that sticks around'.

I pulled the rim of my robes and found Laatste lied. I force pushed the door open slowly, for dramatic effect, and walked out with my hood up over my face and hands hidden. The crowd backed up and each of them drew blasters.  
"Your kind aren't welcome here sith"!  
The crowd cheered at this, and leveled their blasters at me.  
"Flee cowards, and I'll kill you quickly".  
With this, I began drawing in and condensing the fog on the street, obscuring everything below our elbows.  
"Are you mad! your out numbered thirty four to one, not even a Jedi could beat that"!  
"Not even a Jedi...? You seem confused, Let me help you",  
I benighted my lightsaber, the pulsating violet blade creating horrific shadows all along the mist,  
"the Jedi aren't the ones you should fear".  
Half the group had dropped their blasters, and those that remained were wide eyed and shaking.  
"Now Die"!  
I screamed with the fury of all my years of hellish training and rocketed up and out of the fog, landing in the midst of the mob, impaling their leader. The Umbaran men ran in every direction, but I forced them all back, dragging them by their heel, back into the fog cloud. Every member of the mob died with in moments, all but one. I cleared the fog, I want him to see the last one. I held the tip of the violet blade to the Umbaran's chest.  
"please! NO! Have mercy"!  
"Mercy? That's a Jedi's way".  
I hacked of his arms and legs with my saber, his screams could have shattered stone.  
"That is the mercy of the sith, you will be an example to all of what a sith is".  
The last of this message went unheard, he had passed out from shock, though he was likely dead.

Dasi'l walked out of the shop and into the carnage filed street, carefully stepping over the contorted, severed limbs and torsos. I shut down my lightsaber and turned to him as the wave of exhaustion swept over me, forcing me to fall to my hands and knees. I heard his voice, filled with concern, fear... and that curiosity from before. I smiled sleepily and raised my head to look at him, "your so cute when your worried". I fell asleep looking up again into his purple eyes.

I woke up on my bunk in the women's quarters.  
'No handcuffs that's got to be a good sign'.  
I was still in my heavy, dust covered, traveling robes, with my blaster in its holster, but Laatste lied wasn't in its place. I sat up and found that is had been placed at the foot of the bed.  
'Ok, all my stuff is here and accounted for, now what'?  
I stood up and shifted out of my robe, letting the dirt covered cloth fall to the floor. Under the robe, I wore a light Synth-silk shirt and a pair of baggy pants. I hefted the heap of purple and grey, dusty clothing onto the bunk and sat down next to it. I took of my boots and rubbed my sore feet, that jump had been really hard and the landing had made bruises all along the bottoms of them.

Once I got bored of doing this I walked out to the main room, where I found Dasi'l resting on a couch. He straightened up, seeing me out of my usual heavy and concealing robes. I could feel his gaze on me as I went and sat down next to him. I pulled my knees up under my chin and hugged them.  
"So... d-do you still want me on your ship t-till Dromund Kaas"?  
"Why'd ya do that last guy like ya did? He gave up".  
"That's h-how we're trained to h-handle situations like that".  
"While yer on this ship, when we travel together, it can't be like that".  
I closed my eyes and nodded.  
" an' yer gonna have to find a way to tell Petra that you weren't a slave".

"Th-that part is, or was true. Before I was s-ss-sent to the academy, I was owned by a sith lord. I ended up b-being her apprentice so, in a way, I'm still her slave".  
"Ok, that'll go over a bit smoother with Petra".

"What's gonna go over with me exactly"?

Petra entered the room, from the cockpit and flopped down into the couch almost on top of me.  
"Are we out of the shadow nebula yet Petra"?  
"Yep, now about what you two were saying"?  
"Well, Thalia has some thing to tell ya, so ah'll just be goin' then...".  
"Now captain why the rush, just keep yourself seated, no where to run anyway". The menacing look in those crazy-colored eyes was all the authority she needed.  
"yes, ma-am".

"Nice to see you've relaxed enough to shed the robes, so what does Thalia have to tell me then"?  
She stared directly at me, never blinking or wavering, like she would pry it out of my soul if I didn't tell her soon. She sat with an elbow on one knee and extended her free hand to her other knee.  
"I need to tell you that...",  
"That you're a sith? Yeah, I already knew".  
The captain and I both must have looked hilarious, because she toppled over in a fit of laughter, crying out "oh tha look on ye face".

It didn't take long to tell fill her in with what I told Dasi'l, though she asked questions like "where were you before korriban"? and "What's your favorite color"? When she had had her fill of answers she said she was gonna get back to the cockpit and see how we're doing, time wise.

Though there were no stars nearby the ships auto clock signaled that it was ten. I was tired anyway I returned to the bunk and crawled in moving my robes to cover me.

A few moments later Petra and Joeci walked in talking about hyper-drive maintenance and a broken compressor. Joeci climbed the ladder to the bunk above mine and Petra followed her up. Pieces of clothing started falling over the edge of the bed. Shirts, pants shoes, socks, a pair of pink undergarments...

The ship landed on Nar Shaddaa within ten standard days and a few sleepless nights.

"We've got a new job people! Let's load up and get a move on"!  
Joeci cleared the delivery men out of the hanger and we got to work. Now that the crew knew what I was, I could be a lot more helpful. Ferin and I raced to see which of us could load more crates. I was still hard pressed to beat him even by force lifting two crates at a time, he'd just grab one in each arm and jog up the ramp like it was nothing. During the time we spent loading the cargo taught me something, Farin doesn't talk... Ever. About anything. Other than the crate load off, our time in the Nar Shaddaa space port was pretty dull till Dasi'l got back.

The captain came stumbling through the entrance to the hanger, drunk out of his mind, with joeci half carrying him. I rushed to help carry him, but he straitened up, some what, when he say me.  
"Hey ya ther thals, 've bn' meenin' ta talk with ya".  
I tried to pull his other arm over my shoulder to help keep him up, but he wouldn't have it, and told joeci to get the ship ready for take off.  
"c'mon le's get outta here".  
The captain stumbled of toward the ship with a bottle in one hand and mine in the other. "We gotta deliver these crates ah poodoo to some shith on Dromund Kaash".

'I guess I've got a decision to make then, ride out the storm as Tytho's apprentice and become a sith lord, maybe or stay with Dasi'l and the crew and be a pirate legend... oh what choices'.


	3. Dreams? 3

We took off, Petra in the cockpit, and everyone else seated in the main room. Dasi'l was strapped into the seat next to me and he was babbling about old feuds and rotten food. I had to fight the urge to stare at him, covert looks would have to do. Even drunk out of his mind, his roguish grin never left his face. His nose was kinked near the top probably broken in some fight. His eyes... I got lost in those for a moment to long. "Eh? wha'choo lookin' at"? 'Shit, shit, shit, shit'. " I-II uh, well um". The ship pitched to the left violently and shuddered. "Petra! What're ya doin' up there! We need to be in one piece to deliver tha cargo"! 'Thank heavens for that mini ball of hormones. " Shut up ya drunken tail head! I'm tryin' to fly here"! "Ats captain drunken tail head ta you"! "You shut up or I will turn this starship around land us back with the mistys. With that, Dasi'l went back to mumbling. Petra announced we were clear of the wrench field, so we could walk about. The captain fumbled with his straps as everyone else walked off to do their own business. I stayed back to help him out of his seat. "Thanks fer that Thals... could ya help me get ta my room? Ah' can' walks righ". "Alright, alright, lets get you to bed". We stumbled across the great room to his door. A moment later, he stumbled in alone, thanked me and closed the door. 'damn it'.

For the first night in the last three, Petra left me alone. Joeci and her might be an item on the ship, but Joeci runs out of steam faster than the tiny pilot, and she likes to go till shes done. Tonight however, Petra was out like a light.

The lights couldn't come back on soon enough. Force users, more often than not, are plagued by nightmares that are made worse by the fact that they shouldn't be ignored or forgotten, because once and awhile they turned out to have a reason.

I was standing, watching my master and the captain face off in a misty clearing. Her pink scarf hung loosely around her neck and a demonic, smile stretched her face into a grotesque mask of gleeful rage. Dasi'l held his blaster in one hand and a vibro-knife in the other.

"Thalia, my dear apprentice, you seem to have found yourself a very handsome man, be it rougedly so. I think he's a good, but not worth giving up a future in the sith empire for. That IS what you are doing by the way, throwing away your life".

"Thalia! What in the name of a huts uncle is goin' on, where's my ship and who the heck is that"!

" D-dasi'l, calm down, its j-just a dream. She can't hurt you... can you"?

"I could, but I'm looking forward to meeting him myself but that's not why I went to the trouble of commandeering your dreams tonight. since you seem to be preoccupied by your ah, business. Oh and by the way, Dasi'l. Trust your feelings, it won't be hard to get her pants off".

"HEY"!

"Oh Thalia, there's no point beating around the bush, life is to short".

"That's still no reason for you to t-tell him"!

"Wait? So's that true then"?

"NOT N-NOW DASI'L"!

Lord Tytho stepped forward,"Ok, now lets calm down, I called you hear to brief you on your first mission, I do not want you to come to Dromund Kaas. Some of my underlings have planned a coup. They've killed multiple apprentices of mine already. I need you to travel to Felucia to eliminate their leader".

"I don't know if that will be p-pp-possible master, we're on a direct rout to D-dromund Kaas right now".

Dasi'l sheathed his vibroblade and blaster. "We will be passing Felucia on the way, and we need to check on what ever hit us on the way out from Umbara. Felucia isn't ideal, but we could probably do the repairs there".

'Shut up Dasi'l...' I sighed, "Fine... w-what can you tell me about my target and what does he, or she or it know ab-bout me"?

She leaned toward me, that horrible grin stretched her lips over her teeth again. "I'm glad to see that you've come around. He's a Gen'Dai, I doubt you've heard of them, the empire wiped most of their species out to take control of their home planet, which by no means was an easy task. Their race is known for being nearly immortal. You'll have to completely destroy every last piece of him and quickly too, they regenerate entire limbs at a moments notice. As for what he knows of you... besides me and that boy you killed, no one knows that you're alive, by the way, you're next task after this is to find a replacement for him".

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the shocked expression on Dasi'l's face. 'Crap, now I have to deal with that'.

"Is h-he at least near the spaceport or d-do I have to hunt through the jungle for him"?

"Hmm, seems we're out of time, ta ta for now my apprentice".

The dream began to fade out and I woke up to the sound of blaring alarms and a little face with kaleidoscope eyes, shouting "Thalia wake up"! We're being boarded"! In a flash I was back in my tattered old robes and boots half strapped on, tumbling out of the women's quarters.

Dasi'l was standing in his boxers with a blaster in each hand, Farin carried a heavy repeating blaster and Joeci ran out behind me leveling her scatter gun at my head.

Without thinking, I ducked and saw a hail of plasma fly overhead. I heard Dasi'l run over and tackle Joeci before she could shoot again.

"What the heck are ya doin' Joeci? Thalia's on our side"!

"Like hell she is! She probably called those damn Imps on us"!

"No... I don't know how to explain it, but just NO and I dont want to hear anything more about it".

Joeci was about to reply when the holoterminal clicked on with the image of an Imperial officer. "This is Moff Lazrous of the imperial fleet, your vessel has been selected for a search. Lay down your weapons or be fired on".

I stepped closer to the terminal and lowered my hood. "Hello Moff, t-this is Thalia, apprentice and ambassador of Lord Tytho. I'd like to inquire on who's auth-thority you would be able to search M-MY ship"! At this, the officer paled, "My apologies ma' am, I was not aware of this, we were under the impression that this ship belonged to a pirate by the name of Dasi'l the typhoon".

"It does, the ambassador just presumes to much". Dasi'l stood and winked at me from the corner of his eye. Still in his underpants, he greeted the Moff. "So, ya spent yer time huntin' me down, what do ya want"?

Moff Lazrous clasped his hands behind his back, "We intend to seek your assistance in neutralizing a...". "Another listening station"?

"No, this time it is more complicated than that. The target is a Republic Fighter Factory in orbit around Mossak. Imperial forces can't be seen near it while the treaty stands, that is why we sought you out". Dasi'l paced the deck, "What kind of pay are we talking"? "For the complete destruction of the facility, we are prepared to pay you ten thousand credits". Dasi'l leaned against the wall, rubbing his temples with his hands. "Whats the catch"? The Moff grinned at this "You need to board the station and steal any plans, prototypes or blueprints you can find before they call for help, then destroy them". Dasi'l stalked over to the terminal, "This ain't just any old orbital factory is it"? "No, it is the factory that the republic chose to innovate technology for their new fleet, and the Empire could benefit from their works greatly".

" I want double. Plus damages".

"Fifteen thousand, plus damages and the equipment that we are prepared to outfit your ship with for this task".

"Lets see what you got for me then". Dasi'l shut down the terminal, "Thalia, your with me, Farin, go make sure Petra is well hidden, Joeci make sure they don't mess up my ship". We went down the loading bay and Dasi'l punched in the unlock code.

Crisp, cold air flowed into the ship from the imperial hanger, raising goose on Dasi'l's arms, chest and legs. We walked down the ramp onto the hanger floor where an entire brigade of Imperial troopers stood at attention as the Moff approached. Seeing him in his uniform and the captain in nothing but his boxers made it hard for me to keep a straight face. A group of engineers followed closely behind the him pushing carts loaded with odds and ends that I could only guess the purpose for. Dasi'l stuck his blasters in the elastic cord in his underpants, making him look even more out of place then strode down toward the carts, inspecting each part. I couldn't really make out what he said about them, but he seemed pretty satisfied.

I looked back where the Moff had been, realizing he had vanished. "Might I ask why someone of your position would associate with such rabble"? The inquiring voice startled me causing me to jump. 'how did he get so close to me'?! "N-no you may not Lazrous, that is strictly sith business, now if you would be so kind as to see y-yourself back to your dealings with the captain, it would be appreciated. The Moff took a step forward, "You sounded quite unsure of your self before 'ma' am', so I had one of my lieutenants check your file. You died on Korriban weeks ago, can you explain this"?

The fact that my face was still blushed crimson from seeing the captain's trousers, they had Ewoks on them... so cute by the way, wasn't helping ease his suspicions. I grabbed the hilt of Laatste lied and thrust it out of my robes before releasing the blade. stepped towards the Moff so we were face to face...or face to lower chest. I grabbed his shoulder and pulled his face down to me, this took a considerable amount of force. "I am dead, you saw no sith here and you will destroy any record of me being here". I could feel the terror emanating from him and it was mirrored in his eyes. "You are dead, I saw no sith here and I will destroy any record of you being here".

After I extinguished my lightsaber, the Moff quickly walked off back to a very alert Twi'lek in boxers. Joeci oversaw the attachment of the new parts and we were off again.

Next stop, Mossak


	4. Escape Pod? 4

Petra was absolutely livid. Farin had stowed her away in a compartment under the captain's wardrobe, and it had been at least two hours till we could take off and let her out, even though no imperial, besides the Moff ever stepped foot on the deck of the ship. Seeing Petra this angry was like watching a baby rancor. The tiny pilot nearly threw Ferin across the ship. She settled down when dasi'l offered her his chocolate. Mossak was only a short distance from Felucia, close enough that if things went south, we could likely escape there.

I was sitting in the cockpit with dasi'l when he shut off the hyperdrive, the station still fare from being on our newly amplified radar. "Petra, come up to the cockpit". A moment after Dasi'l's call, she climbed in and sat on my lap. "What's up"?

"The station is gonna be able to detect us soon, lets switch it over to dead drift".

The slight smile on her face signaled the captain to get out of her chair, and me to tighten my safety straps.

"Alright captain, switching to dead drift...". Petra reached under the control panel and the metallic clicking of switches sounded off one after the another. The lights in the cockpit shut off and the engines died. The only sound was the fans for the life support system and they began to shudder.

"Hey Thalia"? I looked at the blue skinned man, as he put a holocom in my hand. "Take this into the medbay and hail the station, one of us would do this but our faces are too familiar to republic lackeys. That and yer probably the best actor outta all of us". He nudged me with his elbow grinning like a mad man.

On my way out of the cockpit, I passed Ferin, who was sleeping on the couch in the main room.

"The station is gonna be able to detect us soon, get us turned around".

The slight smile on her face signaled the captain to get out of her chair, and me to tighten my safety straps.

"Alright captain, I've got the escape pod aimed at the station". Petra reached under the control panel and the metallic clicking of switches echoed one another. "that'll disable the safety lock. She's ready to separate".

"Hey Thalia"? I looked at the blue skinned man, as he put a holocom in my hand. "Take this into the escape pod and hail the station. Once you've got the data, sebd three fast clicks then four slow on the holocom. We'll come a runnin'. One of us would do this but our faces are too familiar to republic lackeys. That and yer probably the best actor outta all of us.". He nudged me with his elbow grinning like a mad man.

I knew he was right, but the fact that he knew it was unsettling, a question for another time though."I'll need to borrow some cloths and find some where to keep my lightsaber"

"What kind"?

The Escape Pod was large enough to fit seven or eight people in, it had seats and cabinets. I sat down and wrapped a blanket around myself; the life support system wasn't heated on in here. The door behind me ceased shut and Dasi'l's voice come on over the intercom. "Go ahead an' strap in, we'll be seperating in a moment, once we're gone, use your holocom to get a hold of the station". Out the window, I say he ship pull away and shrink into the black till I lost sight of the thrusters. I hit the open signal button. The only place near enough for the small device to reach would be the station, or a passing ship. After a few moments, an old man in robes gleamed up from the holocom. "This is a restricted area, what is your business here"? I didn't even need to act, just loose the imperial accent and the chatter in my teeth and the fog of my breath could carry me, "t-t-this Ashil Moro, m-m-my Pods b-been d-drifting for days. P-please I-I need some w-where to land"!

"How may are in the pod with you"? The concern in his voice was heavy, but I could feel something else, he wasn't just an ordinary old man. 'He's a fool for not masking his presence with the force'.

"Only m-me, I c-can't stand the quiet any more p-p-lease..." I pretended to choke down a sob, which seemed to convince the Jedi fool.

"We will send a ship to tow you into the hanger, hold on, help is coming".

Alligator tears freezing on my face, I thanked him in my chattery shuddering, scared little girl, voice. 'what a sucker right'? The transmission closed and I sat in there, wearing a pair of Petra's flight pants and a bright blue vest that Joeci had offered me, looking like a classic spacer girl wrapped up in two thermo-blankets.

The pod shuddered and the door to the pod swished open, letting in a wave of fresh, warm air which was closely followed by five armed Republic soldiers. Bare foot and only armed with my heavy blaster, I staggered forward to their poor gullible arms. The largest of them caught me and I dropped my blaster, which I hadn't planed for. "Come on, lets get you to the mess hall for a hot meal". I nodded quickly, just noticing that I was actually rather hungry.

They gave me hot chocolate and a warm bowl of soup. Both seemed beyond delicious compared to the food on the ship. The cook and the man that had carried me sat next to me on either side. "That was r-really good...".

"It really isn't much, just the usual republic rations and hypothermia kit". In response to the soldiers words, the cook nodded and picked up the bowl and cup before walking back into the galley. "lets take you up to the command deck to talk with Master Ukiora. He's the one that you talked with you over the holoterminal".

"What's y-your name"?

"I'm Sergeant Ross".

I held out my arms and he picked me up, easily cradling me in his arms. Moments later, we were in the Command Room with the Jedi scum. Ross set me down in front of Master Ukiora, I stumbled a bit, just to add to the act.

"I'm glad to see your well Ashil". I smiled and laughed lightly,

"Th-thank you master jedi"!

"we'll let you stay aboard this station with an escort till we can figure out what else to do. Do you have any loved ones that you could call"?

"N-no they w-were all still on th-the ship when the Imperials attacked us my pa told me told me to wait in the escape pod, then he shot me off... I-I saw the ship when it... when it..." Tears flowed freely down my cheeks and my false sobs shook me hard. The old jedi embraced me,

"The empire won't be able to hurt you again Ashil, you're safe here".

I had to struggle to keep my sob from turning to a laugh at the horrible irony of the truth. Then the old jedi whispered almost to quiet to hear "Very nice story little sith, lets see what you have planed".

'SHIT, shit, shit, shit, shit'! I couldn't keep the supersize from my face. "Wha...".

"not here, not now, I don't want to have to kill you, especially not in front of my men. We'll talk later". He pulled away smiling softly, " Sergeant Ross, could you show our guest to my padawan's chambers and tell her to keep Ashil company".

"Yes sir".

So, with all of the color drained from my face and the confidence I had stripped away, I followed Ross to what would be my prison.


	5. Ross? 5

The Sergeant and I walked for what must have been a long time, but it felt like it went very fast. The thought had crossed my mind to kill the Sergeant and run off to find the data base but he would be found quickly, too many people walking by us too often. I wouldn't be able to fight the Jedi master without Laatste Lied, but the padawan... maybe.

"...and this is where your stop is".

'Crap what was he talking about'!

"Th-thanks Ross"

"No problem miss, If you need me, my holocom is always on". From the shy look on his face, I could tell two things. First that the sergeant liked me and that his com wouldn't be turning off again.

I gave an affectionate smile and hugged him just as the door opened with a very startled, angry and half dressed Togruta flew out wielding a lamp.

The Sergeant didn't even flinch, other than to avert his eyes. The jedi padawan glared around, as if to search for an enemy. Finding just the two of us, she tossed the lamp back in her room "Hi sergeant... and um..." She fixed her eyes on me, the tiny barefoot girl. She leaned over, placing her hands on her knees and looked me right in the eyes.

"Well hi there, whats your name"?

She sounded like she thought I was a child.

'Annoying, but it helps'. "M-my name is A-ashil".

She stood up straight offered me her hand, "Well Ashil, my names Seako, it's a pleasure to meet you. So, what are you doing around here"?

"Well general, that's why we came down here, Master Ukiora said that she would be staying with you, and that he wants you to keep her company".

She whispered quietly "Great... baby sitting duty". She looked back at me, her face shifting to a resolutely half cheery smile.

"Well Ashil, lets get you settled in. Thank's Ross, I've got her from here.

The room was simple, two beds, two boxes and... a data terminal.

'I could use that if I could get alone'.

She swept some stuff off of the second bed into a box and dumped it into the box at the foot of what must have been her bed.

"This'll be your bed, and you can put all of your stuff in here", dropping the now empty box at the foot of my bed.

"Speaking of which, do you want to head to the hanger to pick that stuff up"?

I nodded quickly, 'Maybe I can sneak my blaster past her'.

"Ok, I'm gonna get dressed then we can get going, I know a short cut". The grin on her face told me this was going to be a long shortcut.

Oddly enough, I was wrong. She pulled a grate off of a vent and told me to slide in. The vent took me all the way down to the hanger where I crashed against the grate, making a huge bang that echoed loudly. She followed after a moment, slowing down as to not squish me, then kicked our way out.

Once we were on the hanger floor, I ran ahead of her to grab... and hide, my blaster.

"Hey! wait up" Seako, jogged after me.

The blaster was still on the floor, which I stowed in a large pocket in Petra's flight pants. I was able to pull a few other things together that I wanted, some tools, a few computer spikes and a droid's head that had been sitting in a cabinet. Just some clutter to fiddle with.

"So, you like droids then"? I looked up to see Seako panting in the door way, looking at me.

"And how the heck can you run so fast on those short little legs"?

I stared at her blankly till it hit me, I didn't hold back enough.

'crap, she wasn't jogging, she just doesn't know how to use the force to run'

"W-what do you mean run fast"?

"You took off like a blaster shot, blurred legs and everything".

'Can't play dumb...'

I laughed shyly, "My pa use to say I c-could run faster than a wookie from p-pants, never thought a Jedi would think so".

Seako laughed a bit at that and seemed placated for now.

"Do you have your stuff together"?

"Just a few more things", I started picking through the content of a bin and pulled out a pair of sandals.

"G-got everything"! I waddled over to Seako with my arms loaded with my plundered goods.

"Ok let me get some of that for you".

"Th-thanks"

Master Ukiora was waiting outside the room, tranquil as forest.

Seako bowed before addressing him, "Hello master".

"Seako, no need to be so formal, its just us and our interesting guest".

"Alright old man, so what's the deal with Ashil"? The affection in her voice was obvious. She loved her master like a favorite grandfather and he obviously felt the same.

Ukiora was sat on one bed and Seako and I were on the other.

"Seako, I've always told you that there are many kinds of force users other than those that are in the Jedi order. Some choose to walk a grey path, between the dark and the light. They don't truely keep peace, but rather keep balance..."

Seako interrupted "So are they against the Jedi like the Sith"?

"No, no they aren't against us, or the Sith. They are more of a mid ground, against who ever gains too much power and for whoever is in threat of vanishing, though they have never truly sided with the sith, they have worked for and against the Jedi because of the sith. Which brings us to that lovely bunch..."

"So is Ashil a grey force user? I can't sense any sensitivity in her, but she can run faster that a blaster bolt".

"I'll tell you if you quit interrupting the lesson I'll tell you"!

"Sorry go ahead".

"you done"?

"Yep".

"Ok, so as I was saying the sith are at the opposite end from us, typically they are cold blooded killers and berserkers at their base levels with sadistic masterminds sitting at the top of their ranks".

'Thats... very true'.

"I'm telling you this so that you can fully appreciate our situation. You see, Thalia is a sith that..."

Seako jumped up and drew a green lightsaber and swung for my head.

Within that tenth of a second, a few things happened I stopped her blade in my force shielded hand and drew my Arkanian custom blaster, still keeping my finger off the trigger.

'I don't want to shoot if I don't have too, but I need it out'

Lastly a bright blue saber blocked hers. Ukiora's cane had split in two, one part small, emitting a blazing cross guard and blade and the other with a locking device to click back into the saber hilt.

"SEAKO! stop and calm yourself! We will not harm our guest".

She immediately put away her lightsaber and he did likewise.

"I was going to say we have a unique opportunity to talk with a sith that doesn't intend to kill you but that's in question now. Ashil, if that's your name, could you give me the blaster"?

His voice was so calming and compelling, I... I couldn't say now to him.

I slowly handed over the blaster, my only weapon to defend myself from they other than sear force power. But he was so nice, I couldn't even think of harming him...

'Come on Thalia, hes using to force to take you off of your guard', 'No, no I don't think so, I'm going to trust him'.

A pair of fingers snapped in front of me, bringing me back to focus.

"Ashil, hello there, welcome back to the conversation, you spaced out there for a minute".

"Sorry jedi master, I-I don't really know what happened".

"Ok, now that we've all calmed down, lets talk. Seako, I'm sure you have some questions about the dark side that I can't answer and Ashil, If that is still what you want us to call you, maybe you have some questions about the jedi way"?

A moment of silence passed and then Seako spoke up, "So... what is it like being a cray psychopathic killer"?

"Seako"!

"N-no, no its fine, B-being a sith, or becoming a sith, I'm n-not technically th-there yet, its hard, its horrible, i-its... its terrifying. I trained on... no. N-no I can't tell you that".

Ukiora placed his hand on my knee, "come now Ashil, we're all friends here, you can tell me". His voice was heavy and each word made me feel tired, like I hadn't slept in days.

'Thalia, stay awake'! he'll tear your mind apart if you let him'!

"N-no, no please I can't say it don't ask".

He leaned forward and lifted his hand to my head. The cold serious look in his eyes began to frighten me, and seako looked just as worried.

"You will tell me where you trained".

A wave of power, like I've never felt before, not from Rantic, not from her master, not even from the sith council member that had visited the academe during her time there. This old man's strength gripped my mind like a vise. I knew that if he pushed farther, or for much longer it would leave me like a shell.

I couldn't keep it in, I sobbed like a child in front of two of my enemies. I cried because my mind hurt, because this old man was going to break me, because I would never be able to call Dasi'l but mostly because he, this old man, could put me to the shame of tears at will, that he was that powerful.

Through the gasping sobs I managed to cry out a few words

"P-please s-stop, I can't... I can't handle it, I can't stand this pain".

"WHERE DID YOU TRAIN"!

My vision blurred and everything was quiet and numb. Then a whisper broke through,

"This will all be over soon, just tell me Ashil. All you have to do to stop hurting is to tell me where the sith train their acolytes. You know where, and they can't get to you. Just tell me, it's that easy".

The violent sobs had slowed to a soft weeping,

"please, I can't tell you that... Please stop asking, your k-killing me".

Seako sniffed loudly next to me, apparently I wasn't the only one crying. Her eyes were swollen and a deep shade of red.

"Ukiora, she's had enough, look at her"!

I couldn't see what I looked like but I could feel that my eyes were burning, and everything has shaking with fear and pain. Tears were still flowing down my cheeks and I couldn't stop them.

"Fine, we'll start on something else. Ashil, what is your name"? His voice was soft again, calming even.

"Master, she's had..."

"My n-name is Th-thalia Dale".

He looked over to Seako knowingly, then focused back on me.

"Thalia, that's a nice name, who gave it to you"?

"My... my master gave it to me, s-she gave me my name when she learned that I could use the force".

"That was nice of her, who is she"?

"I can't t-tell you, she would be angry..."

"Who is your master Thalia"? Again his voice became stronger pressing me down in my own mind. But this time I couldn't hold him off. I fell off the bed and curled up covering my ears and tried to scream but nothing came out. Soft arms wrapped around me, not pulling me up, but letting me stay as I was.

"Leave her alone"!

"Your right, I will stop for now".

I looked up at this old man tears of pain, shame and fear streaming from my face. "E-even the worst of the Sith Overseers in the academe n-never tortured anyone like that, n-not even the animals. They use t-to say Jedi were weak idealistic monks, but th-they were wrong. I was wrong. Sith are the safer side of the f-force, the light isn't warm. It b-burns".

Seako's eyes where distant, distant in thought.

"Seako, think on the lesson you learned today, but know why I pushed her like I did. If we could find where they train, we could stop them from making more sith, weakening the empire".

Seako nodded, still distant.

"I'll give you some time. I'll see you at the end of the sleep cycle".

The minute he walked out the door, I lost control. Seako stayed by me the whole time. Not asking questions, not interrogating me but just sitting by me and being a friend.

The next day, Master Ukiora came back. I was sitting on my bed fiddling with the droid head, trying to attach a power cable. Seako was meditating on the floor. I looked up at him and he looked back at me. A moment passed like this. Till I realized what was going to happen.

I force pushed him out of the door and bolted down the hall eyes streaming, screaming bloody murder.

'Not again, I can't do that again'.

I looked over my shoulder as I ran, I couldn't see them chasing me. When I looked back in front, Ross was in front of me, looking confused and worried. I couldn't stop fast enough, so I ran right into him. He caught me easily and carefully eased me down.

"Ashil, what's going on"?

"The Jedi... Master Ukiora... I wish I had died in that Escape Pod".

Ross looked down at me with that same confused worried look.

"What the hell did they do to you"?

"Sergeant Ross, I'm glad that you caught her, I'll take her back to her room".

The Sergeant stood up and aimed his rifle at the jedi, "General, I don't know what's going on, but I'll tell you what I see, I see a scared little girl that was under your care that wishes she had died out in the black. I didn't sign up with the republic to do things like that and I won't let that happen if I can help it".

"Sergeant, Let me explain...". I could feel the force power creep into his voice.

"No, I've heard about how you can warp peoples minds. You stay out of mine, The laws of the republic say it's illegal to use that on soldiers unless the situation is dire".

"Sergeant, your holding a sith. Her name is Thalia Dale, while we haven't found anything in the data base, we know that she did study in a Sith academe".

Ross looked down at me, and I nodded. "I-its true, my name, being a sith and the academe".

He shook his head slowly,"This still doesn't seem right to me, I've raided sith compounds before seen comrades that had been tortured for weeks, but they never looked this bad, you did this in a day and she's a trained sith. HOW did you do this".

"Sergeant, this discussion is over. Lower your weapon, and walk away. Now".

"Sir..."

Ukiora pulled out his lightsaber and ignited it, the blue cross buzzing to life. "I'm not asking Ross. Please, lower your weapon, walk away and forget this ever happened".

"Sir, I can't. I won't".

"Ross, I'm sorry that you were put in this position. You where a good man".

The old jedi deflected each blaster bolt fired by Ross and walked forward slowly. Ross hit the com on his wrist

"All troops to corridor five! Master Ukiora is a code red cloud. I repeat RED CLOUD"!

Ukiora thrust the point of his blade into Ross' chest plate and Ross shot him in the side of his head, leaving a long blast line along the top right side of the jedi's head. A second later, Republic soldiers surrounded Ukiora and Seako ran down the hall. Medics pulled of Ross' armor and began dressing the wound.

"Ash...er Thalia! what happened to Ukiora"?

I looked from Ross to her and all I could say was sorry.


	6. Power? 6

My stuff was delivered to my new room shortly after I was locked in. They gave me back everything but the blaster. The new room was empty, save a bed, a toilet and a sink, as well as a power outlet. The first thing I set out to do was to get my mind off of Ross. He was a republic soldier, why should I feel bad that he got hurt. I shouldn't... but I did, so I finished fixing the power supply to the droid head.

"Bzzzzt- click"! "hELLO, I am Zeta852, organic, computer protocol droid. Mymymymymy functions are to, babies, act as translator, diplomat and legal counsel at your request. Sadly I seem to lack the hardhardhardhardware to move about freely, and my speech and personality drive seem to be compromised".

So Zeta and I sat and discuses my situation. We talked for what seemed to be hours while I cleaned and repaired circuits and optimized his mainframe. When the lights dimmed, signaling the beginning of the night cycle, I spread out on the bed and set Zeta in the corner nearest to the wall. I was going to need the sleep for what would likely come tomorrow.

The lights blared on during a dream I had about those jawas back on Korriban, terrible little creatures. After a short wait, the door opened, Seako, Ukiora and four soldiers were on the other side. The soldiers walked in, grabbed my wrists and hauled me out of the room.

"Seako? Can you grab my droid for me"?

"Ok, but I don't think you'll need it".

"Its p-programed to... wait w-why wouldn't I need it"?

Seako looked away and the soldiers started walking after Ukiora, the bandage on his head was stained red but he looked just as calm as when I had first met him, almost... happy.

We walked through several different rooms, passing the cafeteria, reminding me how long it had been since I'd eaten, but now didn't seem like the time to ask for a bite. No one else had said a word.

The lights were dim again by the time we reached the new room. 'This station cam't possibly be that large. They must heave lead me around to keep me from learning the layout'.

In the room were three chairs and a table with bars built into the top. The soldiers pulled me into the chair and handcuffed me to the bars on the table. Two of them remained outside of the room but I saw the other two walk off before the door closed. Seako and ukiora sat on the other side, between me and the door.

"Hello Thalia, your little stunt yesterday cost us a good man, what do you have to say for yourself"?

In answer I blew a loose hair out my face, 'really need to get to a mirror'.

"I thought not. Seako, this is your interrogation, you know what we need, It's up to you how you want to proceed".

'Hmm this is going to be strange'.

"Thalia, where did you train"? There was some strength behind her her voice, a surprising amount, but it was nothing next to the old man.

"I-I won't talk, n-not while he's in here".

Seako looked at her master, and he stood, "I'll be right outside if you need me. Just hit your holocom".

The door closed behind him and I felt his presence lift from my shoulders like a massive backpack. The next second, I stopped holding back my own strength. The temperature in to room dipped and the the table groaned under the light amount of force I put on it. Seako looked worried, but she looked determined.

I lowered my head so my hair hid my face. I didn't want her to know that I didn't want to do this.

"He's gone now, so can you tell me where you trained"?

"Seako, does the cold bother you? Do you feel afraid of me"?

"The cold is kind of troubling, I-I didn't know sith could do that, but I'm not afraid of you your a..."

"A what? A good person? No, your master was right, I'm a sith. Now, could you take off these handcuffs"?

"I can't do that, now where did you learn to..."

"take off the shackles and I'll tell you".

"Where did you train Thalia"? She put a lot of her strength into this, but it not nearly enough. I lifted one hand and crushed the holocom on the table.

"Why would you do that"!

"The handcuffs Seako, now". The energy it took to keep the room cold and persuade her was eminence, sweat poured down my face and my breathing came out in quick gasps, but she got up and removed them.

I stood and stretched, pulling the hair away from my face, then lifted a hand towards Seako, gripping her neck with the force.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to need your lightsaber now".

I reached for it as Seako dangled in the air, thrashing her feet.

Just as I got my hand around it the door swished open and Ukiora's hand raised. I hit the wall hard and bounced off onto the floor like a rag doll. Seako dropped next to me coughing, but she got away from me quickly.

I stood and drew her green saber and rushed at the old man blocking the door... and there's the wall again, just as inflexible as before.

"Seako, what have you learned"?

"The sith really are evil".

I got to my knees, wiping the blood from my broken nose.

"You can't keep me here forever Jedi, even in your republic there are laws that protect me".

"Don't count on it young one. You'll be our guest here till I think you have nothing left to tell me".

I stood and faced the Jedi and his padawan on unsteady legs"You won't get a thing out of me"!

"Look at yourself, drenched in sweat and blood, holding a stolen lightsaber and farther outmatched than you would ever believe, and its only been two days. How long do you honestly think you can keep a secret"?

I stood there glaring at him, shaking with rage and exhaustion.

"I-I..." my eyes darted around the room, looking for some way out, "I won't be your prisoner"! That's when I thrust the green blade into my own stomach.

Pain lanced through me and the scream that followed was silenced, with another hot searing pain that filled my mouth with the taste of old metal.

As I fell onto my side, the blade closed and tumbled out of my hand. I heard Seako scream, the door open and armored boots run in, but my vision faded again.

I knew I hadn't died for two reasons. Hell didn't look like my family home, and Ukiora wouldn't be there.

"Hello Thalia, I know you don't trust me but..."

That's when I punched him in the face.

"GET OUT OF MY DREAMS OLD GEEZER"!

"Damn it, I'm trying to apologize to you"!

I lowered my other fist, I'd been planing to keep punching him, this is my near death dream after all, but I wasn't prepared for that.

"I went too far, and I'm sorry, but I do need to know where to find the sith academe, and I can make it worth it for you".

"Th-there isn't anything that you could do to that w-would make me tell you where it is".

"If I may ask, what is it that you came here to learn"?

"I'm here b-because m-my ship blew up". I didn't even bother to sound serious.

"Ok, not that then... I can try to get the Jedi council to help you..."

"No".

"I thought not... What about training, while we're here, I can show you how to move past your limits".

"...h-how"?


	7. Home? 7

I faced the old man that had caused me so much pain, wondering how he could possibly help me... and why?  
"...h-how"?

"My master before me knew an old technique he used to dissuade fallen Jedi, though I doubt it will have that kind of effect on your cold, corrupt mind..."  
"I'll take that as a compliment".  
"As you seem to know well enough, this is your dream, in your mind. To begin, we need to find you".  
"Done".  
"No! Not 'done', I mean the other you".  
"I-I'm pretty sure there's j-just one".  
"Not here there isn't. Remember, force users never have simple dreams. This one in particular is different. It's called Dream-walking. My master taught me how to use it, then how to induce it in my future students to strengthen them in the force. They always have meaning and reason and why are we on a farm? I thought you said it was an academe"?

"I d-didn't grow up in the Academe, no one does. We w-wouldn't survive. Before the Republic abandoned Sicemon the Empire, my family lived here, once th-the sith arrived, the farms became plantations and the settlers b-became slaves".

"Oh... I hadn't known... This isn't going to be an easy trial, you'll have to face your past, you'll probably..."  
"lets get going old man, I've got th-things to do".  
"Things like float in a Bacta-tank, with a neural suppressor locked onto your head"?  
"YOU B-BASTARDS HAVE M-ME IN A SUPPRESSOR"?  
"What else could we do to keep you from killing the medical team? Your best, your only, weapon is your mind".

"Fine, w-whatever, how do we find me then"?  
"You know that better than I do. Where was your favorite place to be here, where did you feel safe"?  
"I th-think I remember a place.

We crossed the grass fields, past the farm house, silos and the barn, walking up to a large hill that flanked the building. Under a large willowy tree, with long branches that shaded the majority of the hillside, I saw a flash of movement. I started towards the tree, holding up my hand behind me to signal the geezer not to follow.

Once at the top of the hill, I looked into the hollow beneath the tree root that I remember hiding in when the Imperial troops came back to find me, where Tytho had found me. I saw my self, just as I must have looked to her, dirty, starved and afraid. I could remember the smile on her face, looking down at me like a cat to a baby bird. I knelt down in front of the hole and offered a hand to the her... which she looked at in complete disbelief and said  
"Momma"?

Tears welling in my eyes, I couldn't think of what to say, 'How are you suppose to respond to things like this?', but before I thought of how to tell my six-year-old self that I wasn't her mother, that she had either been sold as a slave or had died days ago when the Troopers stormed the area, she jumped out of the hollow and wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face into my shirt and sobbing unbridled. I could feel my own arms moving to embrace her without even thinking to do so, we sat together on the hill, under the tree, clinging to one another and crying together. Her because she had found her mother, and me because I had become what made me lose her to begin with.

The sun set over the rolling meadows stretched out at the foot of the hill, throwing shadows of the breeze blown grass around like waves. As it went down the air grew cool and the breeze softened. In a hoarse voice I whisper, "Let's go home Thalia, let's go home", only to find that she was asleep.

I carefully moved my arms to pick her up, and started to go back down the hill. Ukiora was sat cross legged on a stump, meditating. "Is that her"?

I nodded, still walking toward the house, when I felt is hand on my shoulder. "Once you're ready, come back out. There is still more to do". I shrugged off his hand and continued to the front door.

The house was just like I remembered it, the soft chairs and coach, warm fire place and the smell of fresh baked bread, they were all just the same. Up the stairs I walked into my old room. I didn't have very much, pictures I'd drawn where taped up to the walls, a soft little bed in the corner and a homemade doll on the pillow, I had called her Nelliel, those where the things that I never remember to miss.

I put my smaller self down on the bed and sat down on the edge just to stay a moment longer, when her hand moved up and held mine. I looked down to her, swollen, red eyes narrowed in a half asleep stupor. "D-do you have to g-gg-go"?

I shook my head slowly and held her tiny hand in both of mine, "No, no I can stay". She closed her eyes and just as she did, she faded into mist, the blankets falling back to the bed and the warmth of her hand disappearing.

The sun was gone by the time I went back to Ukiora. The wind had picked back up and his robes billowed behind him. He stood facing the meadow, where a storm was gathering. "You handled that very well. When my master showed me this technique, I always had trouble with this step, it took years of training and guidance to push away my emotion to handle the situation... but I like your way more. The Jedi code demands that we move past our emotion, including love. I may seem cold at times, but I have never let that go".

"Shut up old man".

We walked into the storm, the grass wiping at our legs. Once we reached the eye, we found a short figure shrouded in black standing in on a grass-less stone platform. Ukiora and I approached it slowly. I was about to try speaking to it when a lightsaber hilt bounced off of the side of my head.

"What the heck"!?

"I thought you would catch it".

The figure's head lifted, and I recognized the robes I had worn on Umbara. I quickly fumbled for the lightsaber, finding it quickly. Ukiora and I stood facing her, then he stepped back. "This is your battle, if it looks like you will loose, I'll interfere, but you have to win this for yourself".

I drew the blade and held the light blue blade out in front of me in a ready stance and waited for my opponent to move. Just like it had Umbara, fog swirled around us, masking movements and casting shadows, then it went still, just for a second, before a plasma bolt sped straight for my head. I deflected it with a swipe of my blade, before I noticed the thin, pulsating, violet blade swinging down from the opposite direction. I tumbled back, only being grazed by it. What worried me was that I didn't see myself, just the blade. My thoughts were racing, and I was panicking, usually I would take this fear and turn it to strength, but the minute I got enough focus to do so, I would see the purple streak slash at me again, or a bolt of red plasma. Then it clicked, I knew my fighting style, so in order to beat me, I'd have to change my combat form. I squared my shoulders and shifted my feet to the fighting stance that I had seen Ukiora use. The next time she swung, I would be ready. I counted the seconds till the third, when the offensive I new came I blocked it and thrust out my hand, blasting her with all the force I could muster in the second.

The mist cleared and I faced her, kneeling and panting with exhaustion. I pulled at her lightsaber and blaster with the force, she resisted, but was too tired to win. Laatste lied, and my custom Arkanian Blaster were welcome sights. I was pulled out of my sentiment by the sound of sniffling. I looked down at the hooded figure on her hands and knees gasping for breath and noticed the droplets of water on the stone. I knelt by her, and lifted her hood, but the face that looked up at me wasn't mine. It looked just like Tytho but much younger, her eyes full of fear and hate. I stumbled back in shock,

'Was she like me when she was young? a slave to the empire, afraid and angry at the galaxy'?

I turned to face Ukiora, if it had been shocking to me, it was a bombshell for him. He rushed to her and pulled her to her feet to look at her face. At first I didn't understand this, but Tytho recognized him immediately,

"Master Ukiora"? There was some fear in her voice, but she sounded more ashamed.

He hungged her tightly, then pulled away, "Catty how are you here? How do you know this sith? You died years before she could have ever fought you".

Tytho shook her head, tears flowing fast down her cheeks. "I'm sorry master, I... I failed more than you knew". With that she blew away in the storm.

Ukiora, turned his back to me, "How do you know my first apprentice". I could see his shoulders shaking.

"You asked me who my master is... was. Her name is Lord Tytho, and that was her".

His head nodded, "I'll make sense of this later, you need to understand why the force showed you this".

"I think it..."

"I don't need to know, it's just for you to know. When your ready, I'll wake you up". He walked away and disappeared into the grass.

'Now the only thing left to do is to decide if I tell them where the Academe is or not... I'll figure it out when I'm awake, but I need to talk to Seako'. So, I shouted out, in no particular direction, "I"m ready".

As I looked over the grass lands around the home I'd been taken from, I swore that I would go back some day when I didn't have a master. The grass shifted and spun around me, mixing color with the sky and fading into bright white light.

I opened my eyes and looked through the glass of the bacta-tank at blurred figures bustling about, faster than I could keep track of. The liquid level in the tank dropped and and I was left standing in over the drain in a skin tight synth-silk suit that they must have changed me into before they put me in there. The thought of who had done this didn't even come to mind, not because it wasn't something that would bother me, but because not much of anything was coming to mind except Ukiora saying something about a neural suppressor. 'Oh... that's what this is...'

The glass in front of me slid open and a weathered pair of hands guided me out, onto a medical bed. I heard a click over my left ear and a pressure released around my head that I hadn't noticed before. My senses jolted back to full awareness and I sprung up to a sitting position, breathing heavily.

"It's ok Thalia, what your feeling is normal for someone kept in stasis for so long". "How long was I asleep"? My eyes still had trouble focusing on the figure in front of me, but the voice told me all that I needed to know, it was the old man. "It's been two days since your interrogation".

'Two days... Dasi'l probably when to deliver his payload to Dromund Kaas, there's no way he's been sitting around that long'.

"Do you feel any different after the your dream-walk"? The old man's face was set in a serious manner, looking for any sign of change.

"I feel... lighter, better and... different". It was true too, I felt confident, but at the same time, I felt less like a sith. All my rage, fear and hate had been melted away, now I just wanted to go home. "I don't know what to do anymore, I can feel the power that was hidden, but I don't have a need for it anymore". I looked up at him, his face still very serious, but less strained.

"What is it that you want to do now"?

"I just want to go home".

"And where might that be"?

"You already saw it, I want to go back to Sicemon".

"I can arrange for that, but you have to tell me where the academe is, then I can send you there with enough credits to start a new life for yourself. The empire lost control of that system a number of years ago in a prisoner exchange".

'I could go home, back to the farm without the empire, or my master ever knowing... but what about Dasi'l and his crew, my new family? They still had a job to do, destroying this station'.

"I need to call a friend".

"So you do have a ship waiting, are they imperials"?

"No, their a freight crew".

"Pirates"?

"Yes".

"I'll get a secure channel set up for you".

Master Ukiora wired his personal Holocom to the Station wall and handed it to me. "I'll wait outside". I sent out the three long clicks and the four short, then followed it with a two way request for a call to Dasi'l's ship. His hologram materialized over the com device and he was yelling right off the bat.

"What's takin' ya so long"?

"It's a long story, but I can't do it. I need an out". The worry was heavy in his voice when he spoke again. "You look terrible, what happened to you"? My eyes started to tear up and my throat was closing up, I could hardly choke out the words "Please, just get me out of here".

He nodded, "Ok, I'll get the ship back there double time as soon as we finish loading up on the new cargo". I smiled inwardly, 'Knew it'.


	8. Truth 8

I closed the channel after thanking him and lay back on the bed with my legs dangling off the edge. 'How am I going to explain any of this to him'? I closed my eyes and massaged my temples with my thumbs.

The door opened and Ukiora stepped back into the room, then sat beside me on the firm mattress.

"Now that we have all of that done, I'd like to know if you'll be upholding your end of the deal". His tone wasn't pressing or impatient, but curious, as if he was studying a old droid with new software.

"There are a few questions I'd like to ask you before you leave, If you wouldn't mind".

Opening my eyes and looked up into his face I couldn't help but think 'Why do you always have to look so old'? "Fine, but there is a ship coming for me, and they'll need somewhere to land... and where are my cloths"?

It took the better half of an hour, but the old man got all of the answers he wanted, the ones I knew anyway. After I was dressed back in my borrowed attire, which thankfully had been cleaned, two soldiers came and escorted us to the hanger where the escape pod waited on a crane. Seako stood with her back to us, near a fighter that I could only amuse was hers, holding a box with Zeta's head, arguing with an Astro-droid. Ukiora and I approached the three and he greeted her.

"Good morning mas.." She yelped in surprise seeing me walking about, unshackled, then immediately looked between the two of us to try to figure out what had changed so much between the time we were in the interrogation room and now.

"It's fine Seako, I believe our 'guest' has had a serious change of heart in her time in the medical ward". He appraised at me with the look of a conspiratory half smile. 'So he hasn't shown her his strange training technique yet...'

I still couldn't look at her without feeling shame for having attacked her before, so I spoke my teary apology to my shoes. Which she accepted but still held herself at a distance.

The following silence lasted what seemed like days, till the station's intercom clicked. "Freighter incoming to Hanger five, clear the deck".

The freighter ship, Betona landed on the other side of the hanger, with the cargo ramp opening before it touched down. Petra immediately bounded out and made a B line for me. Even from here I could see the intent in her eyes... I turned and ran in the other direction, force jumping up onto the top of the escape pod, which was nearly 10 meters of the ground.

"Get back down here, and give me my damn pants"!

After Ferin carried her back onto the ship, Dasi'l, Joeci and one person I didn't recognize walked out into the hanger. After the sense of imitate doom faded, my curiosity demanded that I investigate. I dropped down, from the escape pod, and walked over to the group forming at the ramp to the ship.

"So, little sith, you dont even have your own pants? Not much of a sith at all". Master Ukiora said jokingly.

"I have pants! Just not this pair..."

I glanced at Dasi'l and the members of the crew that had come out, they seemed fine, kind of dirty and if I were to bet, Joeci had had more that her fair share of some drink. Dasi'l looked normal... rugged, blue and ready to either fight or take a nap. The new guy however was my biggest concern. He was tall, not as much so as Farin, but he still made Dasi'l look short, standing next to him. He wore his course black hair, close cropped in a crew cut, with a clean shaved, angular face. He looked amazing... and clean... but that wan't what made him stand out. He wore an Imperial uniform, and held himself like a high ranking officer, which I confirmed with the two red and blue squares and single crest on his chest, meaning that he was at least a Lieutenant. I tore my eyes away from him to look back at Master Ukiora and Seako, but they seemed calm despite this.

A cough pierced the dead silence of the hanger, and everyone turned to it's maker, the Lieutenant. "On the behalf of the empire, I'm here to negotiate the deliberation of...".

"Silence Lieutenant. I can handle this".

"Yes my lord but I have my orders from Darth..."

I fixed him with a stare full of all the hate I could muster, and was more than a little supersized that there wasn't much, but it seemed to have made my point.

"Ma'am, even you master ans..."

"I don't care about who I should answer to, dog, and whoever sent you isn't here to keep you alive". I must have sounded ridiculous and void of any actual threat, pathetic, because he met my gaze, the eyes of what he thought to be a sith apprentice and held eye contact.

"I will be negotiating this prisoner exchange. This is not debatable". His eyes where cold, gray and relentless. In times like this, as a sith I'd been taught to kill soldiers that were disrespectful, but I don't want to be a sith anymore, but that doesn't mean I'll be a pacifist like the Jedi...

Keeping eye contact, I grabbed my lightsaber hilt and ignited its violet, pulsing blade. "Would you care to repeat that". This time I managed to put an edge to my voice, and stepped towards him. Then I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I flinched, but looking back, I saw its owner, Ukiora, and new what he meant by it. The lightsaber went out and the wave of fatigue wash over me from using the blade. The look of concern on Dasi'l's face wasn't missed.

Grimacing from the loss of energy, I looked back at the imperial officer.

"I don't believe I've got your name".

"No my lord, I am Lieutenant Hearth".

Ukiora took this time to interrupt. "With all due respect to you and the empire, Lt. Hearth but there's no prisoner to exchange here. Your welcome to say aboard the freighter till its crew leave. You may not however leave this hanger by any other means".

His jaw tightened and he ground his teeth together, then said "Surly this is unnecessary, master Jedi. The prisoner is standing right in front of me".

Ukiora looked to me for an answer.

'I know what you want old man... and I agree. The empire isn't my home and it never will be, never should have been at least'.

"Lieutenant, I denounce the sith, as well as the empire and all of it's activities. I'll not be subject to the them any longer, so go and tell".

The shock of this statement seemed to completely confound him, no soldier or politician just walks away from the empire, much less a sith. To do so was simply unheard of. His reaction however wasn't the most extreme, both Jedi did double takes and Dasi'l's eyes were wide as proton emitters, with his mouth hanging slightly open. Joeci, however, was unfazed and stoic as ever.

'Time to uphold my end of the bargain...'. "Master Ukiora? I do believe there are a great many things we need to talk about before I leave. Goodbye Lieutenant".

In his stammering, I realized something, my own speech impediment that I'd become so use to, had been absent since I woke up. I was surprised that to a small degree, I missed it, but to a much greater degree, was glad that I could talk unhindered. This new revelation filled me with determination, and I walked on, back to my captors turned liberators, and waved at Dasi'l to follow, knowing Joeci would likely follow.

Ukoira guided us to a conference room and politely sent a soldier for refreshments. The awkward atmosphere in the room was almost tangible as the five of us sat in stiff chairs, sipping recycled water from metal cups in the small, somewhat cramped, room. 'Lovely... this is going to be that kind of...'

My thought were interrupted when I realized something that I had never expected. Seako was glaring at me. 'Think fast Thals, we don't want to make her angrier, but we need to atone for attacking her. No matter what you do, don't insult her, make any unfriendly statements or make yourself easier to hate...'

I looked up at her, and said exactly what I was trying to avoid. "So... how's your neck"? The look on her face was something that at first looked like I had failed miserably, but my own expression must have had the opposite effect as she just nodded.

"It healed quickly, it hasn't bothered me in a few days".

"I.."

Ukiora spoke up, loud enough to cut me off, but hardly above his normal volume. "As you said, we have some matters to discuss"? Damn geezer.

"The Academy, It's on Korriban. About two kilomiters from the valley of the sith".

"We know. We've known for years and sent agents there, we have active spies inside of its walls".

I stared at him with a mix of fury, confusion and then remembrance. My final trial had been interrupted by Lord.. by Tytho's order to capture an SIS agent. 'How could I have forgotten something so crucial! How couldn't they know? It's the only planet in the empire with as many capital ships as Dromund Kaas'. "Why would you..." Iooked over to Dasi'l, remembering that I was no longer alone. "Why would you ask me where it was if you already knew". I did my best to restrain it, but the malice in my voice slipped through like water in a cracked dam.

"I tried to start with the easy questions, then more on to important details. I just thought you were putting up a weak wall to show that you would be as difficult to interrogate as possible, that's why I held back so much.".

I know he hadn't meant it as an insult, but it stung to have my lack of strength with the force pointed out, reminding me of my masters cruelty will I was only a slave.

Before I was deemed powerful enough to go to the academy and die, or the less likely outcome, had told me that I was weak, having me do strenuous tasks, like scrubbing the floors of grand ball rooms, or commanding me to move boulders that not even the strongest of her slaves could budge. When I had failed to do these monuments tasks, the door would open to where ever it was I was toiling uselessly and she would always smile sweetly with her cold eyes sitting above, as a reminder that the was no kindness to that grin. There was always the same set up in her personal torture chamber. The bed with its dura-steel shackles, a dresser, and a table covered in sharp, shining tools...

I was torn from my memories by Ukiora looking directly at me saying something, but I couldn't hear him over the keen ringing in my ears. I closed my eyes and cleared the fading daydream from my mind. 'Since when do my dreams come around in the day'? The idea of it was disturbing, but the ringing vanished with them.

"... re you ok there Thals"? I opened my eyes again, turning to my friend and shook slightly.

"Just a headache, its nothing". I straightened myself up, pushing my bangs out of my eyes, 'need to cut my hair again', and looked back to the Jedi across the table. "What else do you want to know"?

It turns out, I didn't even know anything of any real importance that they didn't, besides a short list of republic agents that where compromised, mostly because of me. The meeting didn't take long after that, and once it was completed, Dasi'l and Ukiora where on better terms and I had had the chance to amend things with Seako.

As our conversation came to a less related topic, droids, Ukiora stood and clapped his hands. "There's still one matter to resolve. Your home. If I remember correctly, Sicemon is an agricultural planet, though the empires attempts to industrialize it have been countered by its natural atmospheric conditions that make droids and navigation instruments useless".

He hit a number of keys on the access panel on the table and a projection of the planet and Republic information sheets confirmed his account, adding that the current production from the planet was stunted due to a planet wide slave revolt, naturally sponsored by republic agents. Besides the red and blue dots, random lines and the massive scorched western continent, it was all brown plains, with souring blue, stony mountains and small seas. Home.

"I've notified a small party of senators, and our resistance leader on Sicemon, of our deal to trade a few key prisoners with the empire in exchange for Sicemon, it took some time, but I think they all agree. What he does not know however is that you were here. The negotiations should be going on" he looked down the the display on the table's access panel, then turned back to us. "In a quarter of an hour. I'll open the channel to them and see if we can't introduce you". He sat back down and pressed a single key. Instantly the room was filled by the holograms of several richly dressed men and women, and one enormous fur covered figure with a droid, all sitting in chairs around the table. 'Time for my training to pay off...'.

Ukiora spoke first, introducing himself, his padawan, myself as a Representative of the planet in question, Dasi'l as a third party mercenary then joeci, after which, he motioned to me to speak.

I stood and addressed them, covering my imperial accent with the local dialect of my home, which I only remember from my time dreamwalking. "It is a pleasure to meet you all, and I'd like to personally thank you for moving to negotiate with the Empire to avoid further loss of life. As you all know, Sicemon is an agricultural world in the Sice system. The planet, currently produces less than it takes in, as the revolt by the enslaved population is in full swing. Having knowledge of how the sith deal with revolts, I can say with confidence that in a matter of weeks, a new governor will be appointed to end the rebellion. A sith governor. The reports from Balmorra, Taris and Ilum are proof enough of this. Moving while the current governor is still alive is the best chance there is for saving the lives of millions". I looked around the room and knew that all of the humans in the room agreed, but reading the strange alien was nearly impossible.

I sat down, singling the end of my speech. As soon as I had done so, the furry giant stood and roared, hitting its chest slowly with one hand. Then the droid clicked to life. "SENator Spetkabukk, states; Your love of your home clouds your vision young rebel, the revolt will drive the sith out. Even if the do not, the planet is not of any strategic value to the Republic, outside of depriving the empire of a chance to loose more resources". Once the droid had stopped talking, the senator sat, some senators nodded reluctantly, some looked at the woolly senator in disbelief, though nearly half did nothing at all. Good, Most of them are still persuadable.

The next to stand was a male senator arguing about the growing need for food on Coruscant. To be honest, I dozed off several times during his speech, but no one seemed to notice. Speech after speech, a consensus started to form, that Sicemon and a number of republic prisoners of war would be worth the captured battalion of imperial troops. The strange woolen senator never budged, but one out of the fifteen was more than an acceptable amount.

The hologram projected a warning that a third party would be joining the discussion. 'Now comes the real test'.


End file.
